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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Open Letter to the President of the United States

July 14, 2012

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States of America
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:

As a member of the Syrian-American Diasporan community, I wish to convey to you my grave concerns about the massacres ongoing in Syria. As the world's sole remaining superpower, the United States has a special duty to protect the people of Syria from mass murder at the hands of their government.

The United States has been leading diplomatic efforts and calls for regime change, but Assad’s unwillingness to relinquish power has made it clear that regime change through a military intervention is the only way forward. We cannot wait for Russia to consent to a military intervention.

In 1999, our intervention in Kosovo was both legal and morally legitimate under international law, despite a Russian veto at the Security Council. Later Security Council resolutions confirmed this point.

We similarly have a responsibility to protect the Syrian people from egregious acts of violence at the hands of their State, despite Russia's objections and economic ties to Assad's regime. We must move forward and leave Russia behind on the wrong side of history.

It is my hope that we do not repeat our inaction during the Rwanda massacres of the 1990s, and that we will act on our responsibility to protect innocent civilians from egregious violations of international law at the hands of their State.

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About Me

“Man's capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man's inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary."
- Reinhold Niebuhr
John Balouziyeh is an attorney at the international law firm Dentons. He previously worked at the US State Department, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and at various other international institutions. His books on law, human rights, and international affairs reflect a core belief that limited government best serves its people when based on the principles of individual liberty and economic freedom.